In-person early absentee voting has begun for the March 2 Scott County special school elections.
The Bettendorf, North Scott and Pleasant Valley school districts are asking voters to approve "revenue purpose statements" for the use of 1-cent sales tax money to finance improvements to school buildings and technology.
Voters, too, are being asked by the Eastern Iowa Community College District to approve up to a $40 million bond referendum to create a new Career and Technical Education facility.
Here's what you need to know about the March 2 special school elections.
Eastern Iowa Community Colleges bond referendum
Voters in Clinton, Jackson, Muscatine and Scott counties, as well as parts of Cedar, Dubuque, Johnson and Louisa counties, will be asked to approve a $40 million bond levy to finance new and expanded career training labs at EICC's Clinton, Muscatine and Scott Community College main campuses, the Blong Technology Center and Clinton Community College's Maquoketa center.
People are also reading…
The money would also be used for a new training facility in DeWitt and a new agriculture education center in Scott County.
The tax levy would replace one approved by voters in 2007 that ends this year, and would not increase the tax levy above what taxpayers have been paying for the last 10 years, EICC Chancellor Don Doucette said.
Retiring the bonds approved by voters in 2007 would actually likely lead to a lower rate than taxpayers have been paying for the last decade, Doucette said.
The bond revenue would help ensure the community college system meets an urgent and compelling need for career and technical education for both adults and high school students in the region, Doucette said.
A key piece of the proposed expansion are partnerships with area high schools that provide students the opportunity to receive hands-on career training and college credits while still in high school. A number of area school boards, the Quad Cities Chamber of Commerce and several other business and labor groups have approved resolutions in support of the referendum to help jump-start students’ careers.
About 65% of jobs today require education and training beyond high school, according to EICC.
Expanded and proposed program areas include advanced manufacturing and robotics, welding, health and nursing, and augmented and virtual reality, to name a few.
The majority of those programs are included in Iowa’s Last Dollar Scholarship Program created by Gov. Kim Reynolds and the Iowa Legislature to increase the number of workers in Iowa’s high-demand job fields.
"We've worked with 18 school districts and with area business and industry for a number of years now to identify the programs that are needed to meet both student demand and employer demand," Doucette. "But, to really expand our programming in those areas, we need additional facilities."
Not approving the bond referendum would mean a slight, 19-cent decrease in the property tax rate, but in the long-term would impact the ability of EICC to prepare the workforce of the future, Doucette said.
"Smaller percentages of high school graduates are going off to college, and we have to give them options that capture their imagination and give them the ability to have great jobs and great careers," he said.
Revenue purpose statements
The statements outline of how school districts intend to use the money they get from the 1-cent sales tax known as the Secure an Advanced Vision for Education fund, or SAVE.
The ballot language would not approve a new tax or increase the existing one, which was approved by voters in 1999 and reaffirmed in 2008. Rather, it allows the districts to borrow against future revenues and plan long-term investments in school buildings and technology.
The Davenport public school district has decided to take up the matter next year.
The Iowa Legislature voted to in 2019 to continue the 1-cent sales tax until 2051. It had been set to expire at the end of 2029. As a result, school districts need to extend the revenue purpose statements to align with the legislative changes.
Extending the statements will allow districts to borrow against future revenues past 2029 to pay for projects such as secure entrances to school buildings, building new schools and purchasing laptops and tablets for student use as well as new buses, said Brietta Collier, finance director for Bettendorf Community School District.
In Bettendorf, the statewide sales tax revenue amounts to roughly $4 million per year. The North Scott School District gets about $3 million annually, and the Pleasant Valley School District receives about $5 million per year.
In the Pleasant Valley district, sales tax money was spent on the new $18 million Forest Grove Elementary School. In Bettendorf, the money helped build Grant Wood, Mark Twain and Neil Armstrong elementary schools. At North Scott, sales tax funding has paid for additions and remodels at a number of facilities.
"(I)t helps us with long-range planning" to keep school facilities, technology and vehicles up to date, Collier said of the revenue purpose statements. "So if we had any large projects identified that we couldn't cash flow, then we could extend any sort of sales tax revenue bonds, keep them out of the general fund — property taxes — and get better interests rates because it would be a longer period of time. It really makes us better stewards of the money that we receive."
Where to vote
Polls will be open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the following voting locations:
- Waterfront Convention Center, 2021 State St., Bettendorf
- St. John Vianney Church, 4097 18th St., Bettendorf
- Blue Grass Public Safety Building, 606 W. Mayne St., Blue Grass
- Davenport Fairmount Library, 3000 N. Fairmount St., Davenport
- Scott County Administrative Center, 600 W. 4th St., Davenport
- Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds Starlight Ballroom, 2815 W. Locust St., Davenport
- C.A.S.I.,1035 W. Kimberly Road, Davenport
- Davenport Eastern Library, 6000 Eastern Ave., Davenport
- Scott County Library, 200 N. 6th Ave., Eldridge
- Princeton Community Center, 28 River Drive, Princeton
- LeClaire Fire Station, 201 N. 15th St., LeClaire
- Pleasant Valley Admin. Center, 525 Belmont Road, Riverdale
In-person absentee voting is also available at the Auditor’s Office on the fifth floor of the Scott County Admin. Center in Davenport until 5 p.m. March 1.
For more information, contact the Scott County Auditor's Office at 563-326-8631, or the Voter's Hotline at 563-326-8683 (VOTE).